Just checking in with an update. It's been a week and I'm making more progress. I think the anti-anxiety meds are helping as well as trying to take deep breaths and think about this rationally...."it's been 2 years, nothings has happened, i'm ok!" that is the line I normally tell myself I've been doing much much better this month! I think the anti-anxiety meds are helping as well.

I do have actual BFS questions though. 2 of them:1.) I've been under the weather, so also haven't been freaking out too much over this....but pain in the throat everytime I swallow. My own spit or water, doesn't matter, I always feel it. ---The thing I've been telling myself to help with this is what I once read, "*** doesn't present with pain. It wouldn't hurt like this if it was ***." Or something of that manner.2.) Does BFS ever present itching skin? No signs of irritation. Just a weird ITCH?

P.S. Just when I thought I was making progress......I went ahead and clicked on that most recent "Constant Tongue Twitch" question......the post about the doctor....#YIKES....I'm running for my anxiety meds right now because that has me almost in a square one panic Thanks Guys!

Just checking in with an update. It's been a week and I'm making more progress. I think the anti-anxiety meds are helping as well as trying to take deep breaths and think about this rationally...."it's been 2 years, nothings has happened, i'm ok!" that is the line I normally tell myself I've been doing much much better this month! I think the anti-anxiety meds are helping as well.

I do have actual BFS questions though. 2 of them:1.) I've been under the weather, so also haven't been freaking out too much over this....but pain in the throat everytime I swallow. My own spit or water, doesn't matter, I always feel it. ---The thing I've been telling myself to help with this is what I once read, "*** doesn't present with pain. It wouldn't hurt like this if it was ***." Or something of that manner.2.) Does BFS ever present itching skin? No signs of irritation. Just a weird ITCH?

P.S. Just when I thought I was making progress......I went ahead and clicked on that most recent "Constant Tongue Twitch" question......the post about the doctor....#YIKES....I'm running for my anxiety meds right now because that has me almost in a square one panic Thanks Guys!

Happy of some progress made, upset of a major step back tonight,Ryan

Hey Ryan ... My guess is your throat pain doesn't hurt when you eat food does it? Only liquids or saliva?What anti anxiety med are they having you use? Some take a while to build up in your body so it could take a while before you start seeing improvements if your symptoms are psychosomatic. Believe it or not throat pain actually is a pretty common psychosomatic issue...people describe it as a chicken bone stuck in their throat. Or like there is a cut in their throat. The problem occurs for some kind of throat irritation and then the mind obsseses over it and you are finding yoursel swallowing all day checking if the feeling is still there at some point your mind loses track of what normal felt like and you get kinda programmed into thinking its hurt all the time..when your constant checking on the symptom is aggravating things.

This is just a guess based on watching two people go through the same thing and both cases were resolved following a few months of Ssri meds....weird eh?

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." ~World Health Organization, 1948

Hi Ryansome people in BFS complain for itching, many have so called idiopatic urticaria - when suddenly 9without eating or breathing any obvious allergene) you can have a blister like from mosquito bite, and another one, and more... and then boom in 30 minutes or in one hour they go away almost as much suddenly as appeared (I do have that and it started about 2 years in advance to twitches).Pain in the throat in your case is most probably due to tension or due to some slight esophagal spasms, common under stress, or just because of hypersensitivity of your throat. When I was a young mom, any anxious thought about my baby was enough to cause pain in my throat - one sided, sharp as if I swallowed something and scratched it. Of course there vere nothing in there, just mucus membrane hypersensitivity.

It was a pretty good week for the most part, I'm making good progression. Again -- after 2 years of this -- it almost makes sense now. Still, I read a post like the "Constant Tongue Twitch" last night and that re-scares me and sets me into a panic and my tongue starts to twitch

I'm taking Celexa. A small dose -- it was what I was taking for a period last year, so I started it up again.

My guess is your throat pain doesn't hurt when you eat food does it? Only liquids or saliva?

Yes AzTwitchy, this is essentially true. And for the most part, this just started with this stuffy nose I've had the past week, so I'm assuming there is a correlation. I've had this before, I've posted about this before, unrelated to a common cold, and that gets to Yuliasir's comment:

tension or due to some slight esophagal spasms, common under stress, or just because of hypersensitivity of your throat.

I think I may be experiencing this over the past few months. Because it is much different than the "anxiety lump in the throat" of which I experienced this time last year, for a long stretch of time....that just always felt like something was there. On this occasion, something actually kind of hurts. Like a strained muscle. This had me freaking out on this forum just months ago, but as time has moved along I know it can't be related to ***.

just mucus membrane hypersensitivity.

I hope :>

finding yoursel swallowing all day checking if the feeling is still there at some point your mind loses track of what normal felt like

I also think that may have played a part of as well! And Yuliasir thanks for explaining this

idiopatic urticaria

....I'll have to keep track of how often I start itching out of no where

Oh, Lastly.........1.) Weird sensation past few days, as if MY TONGUE IS ALWAYS TASTING THE ENVIRONMENT AROUND ME/THE TASTE BUDS SEEM TO BE CHANGING/ WEIRD SENSATIONS ON THE TONGUE ....What is this! Simply BFS or something I should take note of. It seems weird. Happened this morning as well and I know sensations like this in the past would have be scared.

ok so Celexa is a SSRI....its going to take some time for it to build up in your system. A couple things you should know...if you start having weird side effects you CAN ask your doctor for a blood test to see how much of the drug is in your blood...most doctors don't do this which is ignorant. Serotonin is funny in that not enough and too much cause a lot of issues. so managing it is tricky. don't up your dosage on your own and don't quit the drug on your own. with drugs that affect neurotransmitters you want to do everything slowly so starting out a low dosage is smart. I am hoping your doctor explained all this to you as most of mine did not in the past and it got me into some nasty side effects.

I think after a few weeks you will notice less and less all the weird symptoms\pains\aches and you will be able to cope better. You may feel a little "spaced" out but thats the price to pay.

hope this helps.

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." ~World Health Organization, 1948

I agree with the SSRI's taking time to sink in. I've actually been on them for a few months now -- as welll as for about a year stretch over a year ago before stopping, thinking at the time that I could handle this on my own.

So, I know the weird effects that happen early on SSRI's, but I'm past that. I was actually trying to be calm -- I think the Celexa was helping -- before posting with questions about new symptoms I hope are nothing more than BFS!

You may feel a little "spaced" out but thats the price to pay.

Yes, I get this, it is by far my least favorite and only side effect on Celexa. I don't feel creative or original, I feel zoned out, but like you said, it is the price to pay.

So, as far as I know the new tongue sensations aren't related to Celexa because I had been on it for a year and I've currently been on it for a good amount of time. It is just worrisome. For example, if I'm washing my hair I taste the shampoo. If I'm in the kitchen I taste the food cooking, and I have weird sensations like pops and tingles on my tongue. It's TRIPPING ME OUT!

I agree with the SSRI's taking time to sink in. I've actually been on them for a few months now -- as welll as for about a year stretch over a year ago before stopping, thinking at the time that I could handle this on my own.

So, I know the weird effects that happen early on SSRI's, but I'm past that. I was actually trying to be calm -- I think the Celexa was helping -- before posting with questions about new symptoms I hope are nothing more than BFS!

You may feel a little "spaced" out but thats the price to pay.

Yes, I get this, it is by far my least favorite and only side effect on Celexa. I don't feel creative or original, I feel zoned out, but like you said, it is the price to pay.

So, as far as I know the new tongue sensations aren't related to Celexa because I had been on it for a year and I've currently been on it for a good amount of time. It is just worrisome. For example, if I'm washing my hair I taste the shampoo. If I'm in the kitchen I taste the food cooking, and I have weird sensations like pops and tingles on my tongue. It's TRIPPING ME OUT!

-RYAN

that is a strange symptom but it doesn't sound like anything to be concerned about. one of the doctors I saw on my BFS journey told me a story of a time she self treated herself with an antifungal medication and it made her have a constant metal taste in her mouth for a few months....the brain is crazy and can run wild was the moral of the story. your gonna be fine!

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." ~World Health Organization, 1948

Lastly, the pain in my lower throat is back. A constant pulling/feeling that something is stuck. Different from my "anxiety lump in the throat." I constantly feel as if something is pulling on my tongue muscles down there and it is scary me to death.....

Hi Ryan, Just briefly skimmed this post and found SEVERAL sites that list side effects of Celexa consistent with what you are describing.

This one in particular seemed interesting;

Random Celexa Side Effects Site wrote: Several side effects on senses have been reported. Taste perversion has been reported frequently.

I also read about sore throat (not kidding, ) being commonly reported.

That's not to say you need to stop your medication, just to be mindful if it doesn't improve and don't get freaked out by it.

The itching you've described, I definitely used to get with my BFS, all the time. It is an exceedingly non-specific sign, (meaning lots of people without BFS have this, also,) and has NOTHING to do with **S.

Hope this helps to ease your mind. Blessings, Sue

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain

Just because I've been on this med before, for over a year, only stopped for a short time, and never had any side-effects.....so I'm worried.....

Also, I'm about to make a new post on a concerning symptom of mine...PERIODIC TONGUE TWITCH V. CONSTANT...IS PERIODIC MORE SINISTER?

The past few weeks, I've had a tongue twitch that comes for maybe 10 seconds, about once a week, then leaves......as if to say, "Hey, remember me. "

It seems like this type of twitch would be more worrisome. Because, it is small, only once in a blue moon.....as if my functions are slowly fading and this small twitch is a sign of that?

I'm I reading too far into this. I'm pretty scared again....AHHHH!

RYAN

No, **S doesn't change your taste perception, whatsoever.

As for the twitch you are describing, there is absolutely NOTHING that makes a twitch "worrisome." Please tattoo that onto your brain, and upon any place else that will help you remember. It is weakness, not fascics, which is indicative of **S. And even THEN, it has to be significant, measurable, clinical weakness, not just subjective; "Oh, gee, I think it feels funny when I swallow." Imagine drowning in your own saliva until you are gasping for breath, fall into a coma and need a respirator, and THEN you are in the neighborhood of **S.

It is simply not healthy to live your life in such a precarious emotional state, Ryan. Clearly, it can't be edifying or enjoyable to have such tenuous faith in your body's strength and well-being. You are SO close to finally putting this all behind you and charging forward into the wonder and beauty that awaits you. Don't let these little sillies pull you backwards.

I hope you don't mind, but I would like to share a scripture with you. It's from one of my favorite Books; Song of Solomon, and it says, "Catch for us, the foxes; the little foxes that spoil the vineyard, for our vineyards are in blossom." I love the message behind this metaphor; that the pesky little foxes hold the potential to RUIN a freshly blossoming vineyard; yet all we need do is catch them and keep them at bay. For those of us with irrational fears, (and what you are sharing IS irrational, my friend) these anxious thoughts are JUST like "little foxes," and we are well within our power to "catch" them and disallow them from ever threatening the vineyard of our burgeoning lives, again.

Yes, continue to come here and post whenever you have doubts, but know this: there will come a day when you recognize, within yourself, the power you have to shut it down, all on your own. You will remember how long it has been, (two years?) you will recall all of the many others whom have gone before you and whom are still thriving, enjoying, and celebrating their glorious lives, and you will press forward with courage, strength, and joy in your heart. Until then, we are here for you.

Blessings, Sue

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain

As for the twitch you are describing, there is absolutely NOTHING that makes a twitch "worrisome." Please tattoo that onto your brain, and upon any place else that will help you remember. It is weakness, not fascics, which is indicative of **S. And even THEN, it has to be significant, measurable, clinical weakness, not just subjective; "Oh, gee, I think it feels funny when I swallow." Imagine drowning in your own saliva until you are gasping for breath, fall into a coma and need a respirator, and THEN you are in the neighborhood of **S.

1st of all, this is very well said and I don't know why I forget this at time......the twitching means nothing! Even new twitches...even tongue twitches! Even fleeting twitches or long lasting ones, they are all meaningless...(for the most part)

I was wine tasting this weekend in Napa when I read this on my phone, and it was just beautiful and fitting, and it holds true and I really love this quote

"Catch for us, the foxes; the little foxes that spoil the vineyard, for our vineyards are in blossom." I love the message behind this metaphor; that the pesky little foxes hold the potential to RUIN a freshly blossoming vineyard; yet all we need do is catch them and keep them at bay. For those of us with irrational fears, (and what you are sharing IS irrational, my friend) these anxious thoughts are JUST like "little foxes," and we are well within our power to "catch" them and disallow them from ever threatening the vineyard of our burgeoning lives, again.

I'm trying to keep that in mind. Keep perspective. It's been over 2 years. The initial anxiety over all of this hurt my grades in college and likely ended 1 of my relationships. I've made great strides and I need to continue to keep control over my anxiety and remember that I don't have any symptoms that put me in the ballpark of my greatest fears ***For example, my right foot is hurting badly today and yesterday, by the pinky bone. In the past, I would have thought this meant I was losing control of my foot and thus I'd wake up with *** soon after. Rather, taking lessons I've learned here, I know that it is nothing -- well nothing related to a NMD. There wouldn't be pain. ETC. ETC.! So, in some regards, like this, I'm making progress as well!

Thanks again Sue, that was very very kind of you and the way it was written really stuck with me!

Though, throughout this progression, the throat/mouth stuff still alarms me.....not daily, but probably everyother day now.

For example, the past 3 days, everytime after I eat, I fill like I have to spit. I spit, then feel as if something is still stuck in my throat It's scary. Despite all I've learned, I have trouble putting this out of my mind.